CEO Virginia Rometty has said that the ever shrinking Big Blue will share technology with Chinese firms and will actively help build China's industry.

Talking in Beijing Rometty was setting out her cunning plan for winning over the Chinese manderines who have got the pip with IBM,

The Chinese are leaning on foreign tech companies to stop using its country as a sweatshop for cheap labour and a huge market for their goods. The want the westerners to stop shutting out local producers and help develop the local technology industry.

Rometty said at the China Development Forum, IBM must help China build its IT industry rather than viewing the country solely as a sales destination or manufacturing base,.

"If you're a country, as China is, of 1.3 billion people you would want an IT industry as well. I think some firms find that perhaps frightening. We, though, at IBM ... find that to be a great opportunity," she said.

Her comments are the clearest acknowledgements to date by a high-ranking foreign technology executive that companies must adopt a different tack if they are to continue in China amid growing political pressure.

Intel is another one which has seen the writing on the wall and is forming alliances with domestic operators, hoping a local partner will make it easier to operate in the increasingly tough environment for foreign businesses.

IBM's sales in China have stabilized after a sharp drop that began in the third quarter of 2013 following Snowden's revelations. The Armonk, New York-based company reported a 1 percent slide in revenue in China during the fourth quarter of 2014, compared with the prior year.

Biggish Blue's new approach allows Chinese companies to build everything from semiconductor chips and servers based on IBM architecture, to the software that runs on those machines.

Last week IBM announced that Suzhou PowerCore Technology will begin producing a version of IBM's Power8 chip to run on Chinese-made servers. Its POWER line of processors is often used for intensive calculations in financial services, where Chinese banks have been required by new government regulations to use more domestic vendors.

It had already announced a series of partnerships with Chinese vendors and now packages its database software with products from Inspur, a server hardware maker and IBM rival, and has also struck agreements with Youyou, a Beijing-based software firm.

In an interesting turn of events, it would appear that Need for Speed: Most Wanted, due to be released soon from Electronic Arts and developer Criterion, will apparently offer more than just Kinect support.

The latest box art that we are seeing for the PlayStation 3 version of the game indicates that it also offers Move support. The box art indicates that it is “PlayStation Move Compatible,” which seems to indicate that it has been included.

While the Kinect support was indicated in the first wave of box art for the game, we were unable to see indications of support for PlayStation Move. So far, Electronic Arts and Criterion have remained quiet on what support might be included beyond the typical use of the controller. We suspect that we will hear something more official when we get a little closer to release.

Chip designer ARM and Globalfoundries have inked a multi-year contract ensuring that ARM’s next gen SoCs will be made in Globalfoundries’ 20nm and upcoming 14nm processes that will use FinFET transistors..

20nm test samples are already in Globalfoundries’ fab in Malta, New York. The deal aims to provide customers with 20nm designs and promote migration to three-dimensional FinFET transistor tech at 14nm and beyond.

Under the deal, ARM will develop its Artisan physical IP platform, together with standard cell libraries, memory compilers and POP (processor optimization package) IP solutions. The contract will also include Mali graphics processors.

Globalfoundries is to develop optimized implementations and benchmarks for ARM’s next-gen Cortex processors and Mali graphics processors. It will build on the existing Artisan physical IP platforms for existing processes.

Globalfoundries’ 20nm-LPM technology should bring up to 40 percent performance increase and double the gate density of 28nm. Additionally, the collaboration will include Globalfoundries’ FinFET based technology that will provide a rapid migration path from 20nm-LPM, thanks to the companies’ efforts in optimization of physical IP and process technologies.

Globalfoundries’ executive VP at worldwide marketing and sales Mike Noonen said:”By leveraging our implementation knowledge and applying it to a next-generation, energy-efficient ARM processor and graphics processing unit, we believe we can jointly offer a compelling differentiation to our mutual customers that will power innovation into the next two generations”. ARM’s executive VP and general manager of processor and physical IP divisions Simon Segars said:”By proactively working together to enable next-generation 20nm-LPM and FinFET process technologies, our mutual customers can be assured a range of implementation options that will enable two more generations of advanced semiconductor devices."

After striking a similar, albeit a bit more lucrative, deal with Intel, maker of lithography systems ASML has landed another investment, this time from TSMC.

Under the deal TSMC will pay €276 million over the next five years. The company will also by a 5-percent stake in the company, driving the total investment up to $1.4 billion.

Headquartered in Veldhoven, Holland, ASML supplies lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. It is currently working on next generation Extreme Ultra Violet lithography technology and 450-millimeter tools.

450 millimeter wafers mean more chips per wafer and in turn more profit, while EUV lithography is widely regarded as key to further shrinking of chips. Intel has already agreed to spend up to $3.1 billion for up to 15 percent stake in ASML and fork out an extra billion for research and development, all of which is part of the plan to speed up the adoption of next gen processes by two years.

TSMC's co-chief operating officer Shang-yi Chiang said that controlling “the escalating wafer manufacturing cost” is among the biggest challenges today. Intel's chief operating officer Brian Krzanich reminded earlier that the shift in wafer size traditionally brought 30 to 40 percent reduction in die cost, and that the company expects about the same this time around.

Note that this may not be the last we hear of the company, as ASML’s call for funding involved three - TSMC, Intel and Samsung. So, two down, one to go.

Money can't buy you love but what it can do is settle a trademark dispute. Fruit themed maker of all things shiny Apple has coughed up $60 million to Chinese company Proview Technology, effectively settling the dispute over the name iPad.

The preceding legal tussle is a result of Proview's claim that Apple dealt with only one unit of the company when buying ownership of the iPad trademark. Proview registered the trademark in 2001 and was granted ownership of the name in China. The company tried to do the same in the States, but didn't fare as well as home.

Although a case of trolling if there ever was one, the outcome can still be considered a win win situation, with both companies ultimately getting something out of it. Proview will be getting a nice pile of cash, which is a godsend considering that the company has $8.68 million in outstanding debt and is knee deep in bankrupcty proceedings. Apple, on the other hand, gets to continue sales of the new iPad in China, somewhat of a cut-your-losses-and-move-on strategy.

Analysts say that the slowed sales and delayed launch of the iPad in Chine already spelled losses for Apple. Indeed, taking into acount the size of the Chinese market and the fact that the iPad commands 70 percent of tablet share there, the figure of $60 million seems like lunch money.

Following up on the success of its Gorilla Glass, Corning launched Willow Glass, an even thinner and more flexible display glass technology than those currently on the market.

Willow Glass can be made to be only 0.05mm thick, which is a significant step up from the current displays. A quick look at the specs of Gorilla Glass reveal that the thinnest version is 0.5mm thick.

The key is in the manufacturing process, as the company used a so called roll-to-roll process at 500°C. This produces a thin, bendable and scratch resistant sheets of Willow glass that are only 100 microns thick. In fact, Willow Glass can be rolled up into a 2 inch radius without sustaining damage.

Such a thin and flexible, yet tough, material can be used for just about anything, from smartphones, tablets, netbooks and even solar cells. The flexibility also allows for freedom of design, enabling for some serious curves. Willow Glass,

The company claims that the price of Willow Glass isn’t too high due to efficiency of the process. If the success of Gorilla Glass, which has been featured in numerous smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and even TVs, is anything to go by, we’ll be probably be seeing Willow Glass on many new devices pretty soon.

You can get a clearer idea of the manufacturing process on the video below.

Microsoft will be bringing a Special Edition Xbox 360 4GB Kinect bundle out for those in the U.K. The Union Jack Special Edition, which will be called the Xbox 360 4G Celebration Pack, will arrive on May 25th.

The Kinect bundle will include the console, one wireless Xbox 360 controller, Kinect sensor, headset, 3 months of Xbox Live, and two included titles. The two bundled titles are Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports.

The console itself, the controller, and the Kinect sensor are all painted with the Union Jack theme. Apparently, the release of the Celebration Pack comes ahead of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on June 2nd. Our sources tell us that this (as you might guess) will be a U.K.-only release and Microsoft has no plans to release it outside of the U.K.

After two years of saving its pennies and keeping its money in the bank for a rainy day, networking outfit Cisco has splashed out and bought NDS, which develops pay TV software, for $5 billion.

Cisco told Reuters that NDS was a strategic fit for its video system Videoscape, as NDS' software allows cable and satellite TV companies to deliver encrypted signals through tellies. NDS technology is used by BSkyB, Sky Italia in Europe, Cablevision Systems, Comcast and Rogers in North America.

NDS is 51 percent owned by private equity fund Permira and 49 percent by News. Cisco wants to find new networking functions and with the world+dog wanted to get into the TV business, the outfit thinks it is on to a nice little earner.

Chief Executive John Chambers said Cisco first began looking at NDS about a year ago and now it is betting heavily on video. Chambers likes to call "the new voice" although it has been around since the 1940s and is one of Cisco's “five growth pillars” which you can take with a pillar of Salt.

Chambers said that video would pervasive, on every device. NDS' flagship product, VideoGuard, which is installed on home TVs via smartcards works with Cisco's video offerings because it allows television operators to extend their pay-TV services to other media devices.

Nintendo is apparently adding NFC or Near Field Communications technology to the Wii U controller. Nintendo is just starting to detail the new technology and has been detailing the information surrounding the addition of this technology to developers.

According to what we have been able to learn, the addition of NFC technology in the Wii U controller would allow purchases and payment using compatible NFC funding sources. In addition, it would allow for wireless data swapping with other gaming possibilities that could be developed.

The news that the NFC functionality was being added first came to light in none other than Nintendo’s own official magazine. While details were sparse, the basic concept still will initially revolve around the use of the technology for payment in Nintendo’s new store that will be a part of the Wii U launch.

Twitter has redesigned its low tech webpage and has revamped some of its biggest features.

The big idea is that it will become more relevant and attractive to advertisers. It means that users will have to change the way they access their most important tweets and the most significant information they convey.

The Social micro-blogging site has linked its service to the notion of "home," and is rebranding the hashtag as the "discover" tool. According to Twitter it wants users' experiences to be the same, regardless of where they access "Home" or on a mobile.

Twitter said that it will be rolling out the changes to its Web site over "the next few weeks," although it appears some users are already seeing them, but that users of its new mobile apps will see the redesign immediately.